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Wedding parties and sightseers in Almaty have a new must-see on their itinerary with the recent opening of a monument to President Nursultan Nazarbayev in a park named in his honour, the First President’s Park.

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The shrine has the Leader of the Nation seated atop a granite slab with eagle wings extending behind him. The wings symbolise independence – the free-spirited eagle also features on Kazakhstan’s flag – and feature scenes from Astana and Almaty.

Almaty is represented by the Kazakhstan Hotel and the TV Tower, while Astana is represented by the Pyramid (The Palace of Peace and Reconciliation), BayterekTower and Khan Shatyr. At the centre of the wings is an image of the sun god and some yurts.

Could this be the start of a mania for building monuments in Kazakhstan to the country’s long-serving president?